THE VICE PRESIDENT: Thank you. (Applause.) Thank you very
much. (Applause.) Thank you all very much, thank you for that
welcome. And, Kris, thank you that introduction. It's great back at
Overland Park and the Kansas City area. Of course, this area is the
home to great people, great barbecue, and the Kansas City Chiefs.
(Applause.) I know the President stopped by in Wisconsin recently at
the Chiefs' training camp, but I one-upped him last night, I went to
the -- watched them beat the St. Louis Rams. (Applause.) Of course,
we won't talk a lot over in St. Louis. (Laughter.)

This area is a proud and growing part of the Heartland. And next
year, Overland Park is going to be having a great congressman to
represent them because the people of the third district are going to
elect Kris Kobach to the United States Congress. (Applause.)

It's a privilege this morning for me to bring greetings to all of
you from the President of the United States, George W. Bush.
(Applause.) The President and I are grateful to our many supporters
across Kansas. We're going to work hard to earn the support of people
all over this state. And come November, I have no doubt that Kansas
will be part of a great nationwide victory. (Applause.)

Kansas is fortunate to have outstanding leaders serving in
Washington. We're all looking forward to seeing Kris join the superb
House delegation of Todd Tiahrt, Jerry Moran, and Jim Ryun. And as
President of the Senate, I can tell you that Pat Roberts and Sam
Brownback are doing a superb job for the people of Kansas and the
United States. (Applause.)

We're all here today to talk about the upcoming election. As you
might have noticed, there was a bit of a political gathering in Boston
a few weeks back. It's now official -- I have an opponent.
(Laughter.) People keep telling me Senator Edwards got picked because
of his good looks, his charm, his great hair. I say to them, "How do
you think I got the job?" (Laughter.)

But I spend a lot of time on the campaign trail with men and women
running for Congress, and I can tell you that Kris is one of the best
candidates on the ballot anywhere in the country this year.
(Applause.) He's a family man with strong roots here in Kansas. He
knows the people of Wyandotte, Johnson, and Douglas counties. He
shares your values. And he has exactly what it takes to stand up for
your priorities in Washington, D.C.

As your Congressman, Kris will work hard to keep taxes low. He'll
also apply his experience in national security to help defend America.
As a White House fellow, and in his role at the Department of Justice,
Kris worked on tough, critical issues vital in the war on terror. He
understands that keeping people safe in Kansas requires us to improve
our nation's defenses. In Congress, he'll focus his intelligence, his
talents, and his dedication on that task. That's exactly the kind of
person we need in Congress. And come November, I'm confident the
people of the third district are going to make Kris Kobach the next
representative in the U.S. House. (Applause.)

This election could not come at a more crucial time in our
history. Today we face an enemy every bit as intent on destroying us
as the Axis powers were in World War II, or the Soviet Union during the
Cold War. This enemy, in the words of the 9/11 Commission report, is
"sophisticated, patient, disciplined, and lethal." What this enemy
wants, as the 9/11 report explains, is to do away with democracy, to
end all rights for women, and to impose their way of life on the rest
of us. And as we saw on the morning of 9/11, this enemy is perfectly
prepared to slaughter anyone -- man, woman, or child -- who stands in
their way.

Kris understands this is not an enemy we can reason with, or
negotiate with, or appease. This is, to put it simply, an enemy that
we must destroy. And with Kris Kobach in Congress and President George
W. Bush as our Commander-in-Chief, that is exactly what we're going to
do. (Applause.)

In the weeks following the terrorist attack on America, people in
every part of the country, regardless of party, took great comfort and
pride in the conduct of our President. They saw a man calm in a
crisis, comfortable with responsibility, and determined to do
everything necessary to protect our people.

Under the President's leadership, we have driven the Taliban from
power in Afghanistan and closed down the camps where terrorists trained
to kill Americans. Under the President's leadership, we rid the world
of a gathering threat by eliminating the regime of Saddam Hussein.
Seventeen months ago, Saddam controlled the lives and futures of some
25 million people. Today, he is in jail. (Applause.)

A year ago, Libya had a secret nuclear weapons program. But after
our coalition ousted Saddam, Libya's leader, Colonel Moammar Ghadafi,
had a change of heart. He turned control of Libya's program over to
us, and today the uranium, the centrifuges, and the designs for weapons
are in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, under American lock and key. (Applause.)

We've also shut down the secret network that was based in Pakistan
that was the world's most dangerous supplier -- that is the network was
the most dangerous supplier of illegal nuclear weapons technology.
We've put terrorist financiers out of business, dismantled terrorist
cells worldwide. Most of the planners of the 9/11 attacks have been
captured or killed -- including Khalid Shaykh Muhammad, the mastermind
of 9/11.

We could not have succeeded in these efforts without the help of
dozens of countries all over the world. We will always seek
international support for international efforts, but as President Bush
has made very clear, there is a difference between leading a coalition
of many nations and submitting to the objections of a few. We will
never seek a permission slip to defend the United States of America.
(Applause.)

Under the President's leadership, we have taken unprecedented steps
to protect the American people here at home. We passed the Patriot Act
to give law enforcement the tools they need to track down terrorists.
We created the Department of Homeland Security to focus our government
on the mission of protecting the American people. And we passed
Project BioShield to fund cutting edge research and defenses against a
potential biological weapons attack.

But a good defense is not enough, so we have also gone on the
offense in the war on terror -- but the President's opponent, Senator
Kerry, seems to object. He has even said that by using our strength,
we are creating terrorists and placing ourselves in greater danger.
But that is a fundamental misunderstanding of the way the world we are
living in works. Terrorist attacks are not caused by the use of
strength; they are invited by the perception of weakness. (Applause.)

America faces a choice between our President and a man calling for
us to fight a "more sensitive" war on terror. As Kris understands,
America has been in too many wars for any of our wishes, but not a one
of them was won by being "sensitive." America's great wartime leaders
-- like Lincoln, Roosevelt and Truman -- did not seek to fight a
"sensitive war," they fought to defeat our enemies decisively and with
honor. (Applause.)

I listened to what Senator Kerry had to say in Boston, and, with
all due respect to the Senator, he seems to view the world in the
pre-9/11 period. The job of the Commander-in-Chief, as Senator Kerry
said in his convention speech, is to use America's military strength to
respond to attacks. But September 11th showed us, as surely as
anything can, that we must act against gathering dangers -- not wait to
be attacked. (Applause.)

That awful day left some 3,000 of our fellow citizens dead, and
everything we have learned since tells us the terrorists would do worse
if they could, that they would use chemical, biological, or even
nuclear weapons against us if they acquire them. In the world we live
in now, responding to attacks is not enough. We must do everything in
our power to prevent attacks -- and that includes using military
force.

In his convention speech, Senator Kerry invited us to judge him by
his record. That seems like a good idea. (Laughter.) Senator Kerry
frequently reminds people that he was a member of the Senate
Intelligence Committee. What was Senator Kerry's record on the
committee as the terrorist threat gathered around the world? Well, to
begin with, he did not even bother to show up for 75 percent of the
intelligence committee's public meetings. After the first attack on
the World Trade Center, Senator Kerry missed every public meeting of
the committee for the next year.

We also have important differences with the Kerry-Edwards record
when it comes to providing for our men and women in uniform. There's
one story that makes that about as clear as anything could be. It
starts with Senators Kerry and Edwards voting yes when the President
asked Congress to authorize the use of force against Saddam Hussein.
But then, when it came time to vote for funds that would provide our
fighting men and women with body armor, ammunition, jet fuel, and spare
parts, Senator Kerry and Senator Edwards voted no. Only 12 members of
the United States Senate opposed the funding that would provide vital
resources for our troops. Only four senators voted for the use of
force and against the resources our men and women in combat needed once
they were in combat. Only four. And Senators Kerry and Edwards were
two of those four.

At first Senator Kerry said that he didn't really oppose the
funding. He both supported and opposed it. (Laughter.) He said, and
I quote, "I actually voted for the $87 billion before I voted against
it." (Laughter.) Well, that certainly clears things up. (Laughter.)
Lately he's been saying he's proud that he and John Edwards voted no,
and he explains that his decision was "complicated."

But funding American troops in combat should never be a complicated
question. (Applause.) As Kris understands, it's simply wrong to vote
to commit the troops and then refuse to provide them the resources they
need. We need a President who will back our troops 100 percent, and
that's exactly what we've got in President George W. Bush.
(Applause.)

President Bush knows that our dedicated servicemen and women
represent the very best of the United States of America. And I want to
thank them and all the veterans here today for all that they have done
for all of us. (Applause.) One of the most important commitments that
George W. Bush and I made during the 2000 campaign was that our armed
forces would be given the resources they need and the respect they
deserve -- and we have kept our word to the U.S. military. (Applause.)

These are not times for leaders who shift with the political winds,
saying one thing one day and another the next. Our country requires
strong and consistent leadership for our actions overseas, and the same
is true for our policies here at home. When President Bush and I stood
on the inaugural platform on the west side of the United States Capitol
and took the oath of office, our economy was sliding into recession.
Then, on 9/11, terrorists struck our nation and shook our economy once
again. We faced a basic decision -- to leave more money with families
and businesses, or to take more of the American people's hard-earned
money for the federal government. President Bush made his choice. He
proposed and he delivered tax savings to the American people -- not
once, not twice, but three times. (Applause.)

Every American who pays federal income taxes benefited from the
Bush tax cuts, and so has our economy. For the last 11 consecutive
months, we've created jobs, and since last August we've added about 1.5
million new jobs. Here in Kansas, more than 12,000 jobs have been
created since February. Your unemployment rate is 4.6 percent -- down
a full point from this time last year. Mortgage rates, interest rates,
and inflation are all low. Consumers are confident, businesses are
investing, and families are taking home more of what they earn. We
know there are still challenges, especially in our manufacturing
communities. The President and I will not be satisfied until every
American who wants to work can find a job. But this is a strong
economy, it's growing stronger. The Bush tax cuts are working.
(Applause.)

Our accomplishments these past four years have made America safer,
stronger, and better. They also demonstrate something about the
character of our President. He didn't go to the White House to mark
time, or to spend his energy on small goals. He went to take on the
big issues, and to make serious reforms. He has led with confidence,
clear vision, and unwavering purpose. He's made hard choices, and he's
kept his word. And that's exactly how he will lead this country for
the next four years. (Applause.)

Kris shares our hopeful, optimistic vision for the future. He'll
be a valuable ally on Capitol Hill, and we look forward to working with
him to accomplish great goals. We need Kris in Congress to make the
Bush tax cuts permanent. We need Kris in Congress to help end lawsuit
abuse. We know that it's a lot easier for America's businesses to hire
more workers if they don't have to keep hiring lawyers. (Applause.)
We need Kris in Congress to work for medical liability reform.
America's doctors should be able to spend their time healing patients,
not fighting off frivolous lawsuits. And we need Kris in Congress to
move forward on a comprehensive energy policy to make this nation less
dependent on foreign sources of energy.

Our opponents have a very different vision for the country. They
talk about jobs, yet they never explain how they would put a single
American back to work. They opposed our tax relief, and now they're
proposing massive increases in federal spending. They helped block the
energy plan in the Senate. They oppose effective reform of the legal
system, and they're against medical liability reform. Their big idea
for the economy: raise your taxes.

What we're hearing from the other side is the failed thinking of
the past, and we're not going back. (Applause.)

With Kris in Congress, President Bush and I will also continue to
defend our society's fundamental rights and values. We stand for a
culture of life, and we reject the brutal practice of partial birth
abortion. (Applause.) We stand strongly for the Second Amendment, and
we will defend the individual right of every American to bear arms.
(Applause.) We believe that our nation is "one nation under God." And
we believe Americans ought to be able to say "under God" when they
pledge allegiance to the flag. (Applause.)

There shouldn't be any question about this -- and there wouldn't be
if we had more reasonable judges on the bench. But we have a situation
in the U.S. Senate now where Democrats -- including Senators Kerry and
Edwards -- are using the filibuster to block the President's sensible,
mainstream nominations to the judiciary. Recently, they used their
obstructionist tactics to keep the Senate from voting on four of the
nominees put forward by the President. One of them was Bill Myers, a
friend of mine, a fine man with widespread bipartisan support for his
personal integrity, his judicial temperament, and his legal
experience. If Bill had made it to the floor for an up-or-down vote,
he had the votes to be confirmed to the Ninth Circuit, which, by the
way, is the circuit that decided we should not say "under God" when we
pledge allegiance to the flag. Sounds to me like they could use some
new judges on the Ninth Circuit. (Applause.) What the Democrats are
doing is simply outrageous, and that's why Kansas should send Sam
Brownback back to the United States Senate. (Applause.)

On issue after issue, President Bush has a clear vision for the
future of our nation. Abroad, we will use America's great power to
serve great purposes, to protect our homeland by turning back and
defeating the forces of terror, and to spread hope and freedom around
the world. Here at home, we will continue building a prosperity that
reaches every corner of the land so that every child in America has a
chance to learn, to succeed, and to rise in the world.

Kris Kobach has the same great goals for Kansas. And with your
help, he'll start carrying out his vision in Congress come January.
(Applause.) President Bush and I have complete confidence in Kris, and
in the people of Kansas. We're looking forward to the months ahead --
and to November 2nd, when we will see our cause to victory. And we're
looking forward to working with Kris in the House of Representatives
for a good many years to come.